Vermont Churches , continued :
conducted site visits with participating churches and conducted intensive discussions with church leaders on community engagement , public programming , congregational trends , and space sharing , revealing the potential for a reevaluation and broadening of both revenue streams and institutional vision .
Over a two-year span , SISP participants worked with Partners staff to assess the challenges — be it changes in leadership , mergers , or deferred building maintenance — and short and long-term needs unique to each congregation . During the implementation phase of the program , four training sessions , led and designed by Partners staff , with additional support from the Preservation Trust of Vermont , Hunger Free Vermont , and the State Arts Council of Vermont , provided tools for understanding public value , determining institutional assets , collaborating with other local congregations , and supporting community development .
In addition to training and funding through the SISP program , eight of the nine participating congregations received planning grants through the Preservation Trust of Vermont from the Robert Sincerbeaux Fund . The grants were used to develop customized action plans that ranged from the expansion of food programs and other communityserving initiatives , to building preservation and facility maintenance , to reusing dormant space for leasing and public programming .
The individual outcomes that have taken shape in each Vermont congregation participating in SISP have been nothing short of surprising . The nine churches entered the program beset with unique sets of challenges , but with focus , resolve , and an eagerness for problem solving , each congregation has taken the tools provided by Partners to gain control of their futures and counter uncertainty with resourceful thinking . were stable , membership was steady , and the church ’ s buildings were in good shape . Without any major pressing issues , the congregation was unsure how to best proceed with the skills it had acquired from the SISP training . With the guidance of Joshua Castaño , leaders at Underhill decided to use a portion of its SISP seed grant to develop and conduct a “ listening campaign .”
The congregation at Underhill conducted 60 faceto-face interviews with a diverse mix of 30 congregants and 30 community members . They spoke with food pantry clients , members of the arts community , school officials , senior services staff , and local police . At the end of the campaign , leaders at Underhill compiled the interview data and generated a report with their findings to serve as their roadmap . “ With this report , we sat down again with the interviewers and made some decisions about how to apply the tools we learned from Partners for attracting New Dollars , New Partners ,” said Kevin Goldenbogen , former pastor of
The Sincerest Form of Respect :
United Church of Underhill
For one congregation in Vermont , learning to simply stop and listen to its community would prove to be its greatest strength . Life at United Church of Underhill was relatively calm when the congregation began working with Partners . Its finances
12 • SACRED PLACES • AUTUMN / WINTER 2017-18